I spent the holiday today diving at the aquarium as a substitute for
someone who had medical problems I think. A lot of the other team
members brought wives and children to watch them dive and feed the
rays and other fish. I had nobody to show off for, so in the morning,
I fed the small rays in the background, and later helped with feeding
Oscar the Moray up in the reef exhibit.

After lunch, though, most of the families had left, so I fed rays
front and center. When all my food was gone, I hovered over the deep
well in front of one of the underwater viewing windows and offered
stingray massages.

So far only the cownose rays really go for it, although today the
pelagic made a couple of passes, and one of the male  southerns came
by several times. I love doing this. I take off my glove and hold my
hand up, palm facing away from me. Very soon, the cownose rays line up
and start swimming toward me, wings flapping gracefully.

When they reach my hand, they lift their heads and make contact with
the taste organs under their snouts. Immediately they recognize I have
no food, so they keep their mouths closed and swim slowly over my open
hand or the tips of my fingers. The belly of most rays is like the
smoothest skin you've ever touched. It is clear they enjoy the
sensation, too; they arch and glide, circle around and line up again.
The people watching are fascinated. I try not to make eye contact with
the visitors, but I can see their smiles out of the corner of my eye.

In the morning, as usual, helped with food prep. This is the glamour
part of the divers' responsibility. It involves weighing, sorting and
distributing the shrimp, squid,  smelt, capelin, herring, clams,
mackerel and gel food into various buckets  to take to the exhibits.
Like paratroopers rolling their own chutes, we prepare the food we
hand out.

Some of the food needs to be laced with vitamins, and some needs to be
chopped, in some cases, very very fine. The latter was my job this
morning. Before chopping the shrimp for this particular concoction, I
had to peel them, which is not fun when they are half frozen. But
peeling shrimp always reminds me of something that happened on Hilton
Head when I was living there working for the paper more than 30 years
ago.

In the summer of 1976, after the Democratic National Convention
nominated Carter and Mondale, Mondale and some of the party
strategists came to Hilton Head for a retreat. On the first night, the
local Dems put on a big shrimp boil for Mondale and company. When all
was ready, Mondale was invited to go first through the line. He piled
his plate high with shrimp and beans and corn on the cob and sat down
at a picnic table. Apparently famished after a hard day of
strategizing, he quickly picked up a shrimp, dredged it through the
cocktail sauce and popped it in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed,
not seeming to enjoy it as much as the locals had hoped. He took a
swig of beer, then said, "I never knew they were so crunchy."

I don't know what local official got in trouble for not briefing the
VP nominee on the proper way to peel and eat a shrimp, but people are
still enjoying that one down in the Low Country.

Happy Fourth everyone!

gc